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It’s been a long journey and a lot has happened over these past eighteen months. It still is unimaginable to me that the Lord ever even allowed me to come out here and serve this mission. This time has gone by much too fast and for the amount of things that I’ve experienced, both sad and exciting, I can’t believe that it is now coming to an end.

This past week was again full of so many blessings, and the Lord truly lifted us and helped us as we worked hard and gave it our very best. My last Sunday I had the most investigators at church that I’ve had my entire mission; we gave out more baptismal dates, were able to teach lots of new investigators, and got to visit with lots of members from the ward. And an investigator that the Elders in the ward taught whom I have grown to love also got baptized on Sunday! Even though I only have a few days left of this next week, I expect to keep working hard just the same.

Okay, enough emotional stuff. The funny moment of the week was when we were sharing a lesson with a member and Sister Branch said that we needed to help the “white members” instead of saying the “less-active members.” I smiled to myself a little and then afterward I told her, and we both had a good laugh for a couple of minutes 🙂

It is so sad to leave when things are moving along so well! It’s really hard to say goodbye to this place and especially these people, but one thing that I’ve realized is that the work will never end! There have been a lot of people and investigators who have asked for my contact information, and even though very soon I will be thousands of miles away from these people, I am determined that the second half of my mission continues when I get off of that airplane and I will keep in contact with these people and continue to help and support them! So it’s really not the end, right?

Words cannot express all that I want to say right now. These past eighteen months have meant everything to me because of the lessons I have learned and the person I have become. I have been given the precious opportunity to be immersed in so many other people’s lives, and not only that but also their salvation. I have come to love my Savior more that I even thought possible. I have learned how to forget about myself and get lost in the service of others. I have learned how to have faith, how to really have faith, and receive answers to my prayers.

28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.

30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us.

I came out on this mission in an effort to serve God and help His children. After having felt of His love and received abundantly of His blessings, I thought that the least that I could do was try to pay Him back for all that he has already done by helping others to partake of His goodness. And after all of this, what do I get? Just a year and a half older and deeper in His debt.

I have come to realize that this is a debt I will never be able to pay back–but I will keep working the rest of my life in an effort to try.

Though this chapter of my life comes to an end, I know that the next one will be just as good and that the work of salvation never really ends.

Thank you all for your love and support!! I’ll see you all on the other side of the ocean!

Love,

Sister Crockett

Pictures:

1) Picked up a summer missionary, Sister Mak, from Hong Kong who will be serving with us for a couple of weeks. That means that I get to die in a trio!

2) We took a tram thing that went about Hong Kong. It had a glass floor and it was pretty cool.

3) I love this place so much!!!

4) Karmen baptized!!

5) My mystery fruit of the week turned out to be a fig–a pretty underrated fruit.

6 and 7) A comparison of me and my MTC companion between our first and last weeks of the mission–we’ve changed quite a bit!

I think that this is probably the millionth time I’ve said this, and probably about the hundredth time I’ve apologized for saying it (so sorry again), but this week was full of SO MANY MIRACLES!! Ah, the Lord is just too good to us! We have been working hard and a lot of it has been paying off!

I have been putting off actually admitting that I’m going home, but I suppose that it’s getting too close for me to keep pretending that I’m going to keep being a missionary here forever *sigh*. I am down to my last few days and will be flying back to the states next week on the 18th. But luckily I still have time to keep working hard and helping as many people as I come into contact with! This Sunday was my last fast and testimony sacrament meeting in Hong Kong, and so I patiently waited to bear my testimony and ended up being the last person. Up until then it still hadn’t felt like I was really actually going home, but for some reason as soon as I got up to the podium I just started crying and had about a few seconds of silence while I tried to compose myself. In that moment there were absolutely no words adequate in any language to express the depth of my love and gratitude to my Savior for this amazing opportunity that He has given me to love and serve so many people here. And then the closing song was “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go,” and so of course that only made me cry even more. But at the end of sacrament meeting I was able to cry together with some of the members and just thank them for all that they have done! This is such an amazing ward and there are so many people here who have set such shining examples for me. I am glad that I still have one more Sunday left with them!

The week started off pretty slow and so we went out to do some finding, just walking around the streets, and saw this popo sitting on a bench, so we went and talked to her. It turns out that we had actually met her before about 4 months prior! She is super cute and sings all the time and sometimes responds to us by singing, and she was super happy to talk to us, but had about zero interest in the gospel. But I had the impression to ask if she had family at home and if we could visit them, like, right then. I know, I’m kind of awkward and that’s especially a no-no here in Hong Kong, because people are very particular about their private space and their homes. But she actually said yes, and we walked with her to her house that very minute and met her daughter and two granddaughters, and they are such a nice family! The nine-year-old granddaughter, Lisa, has the most interest and even let us come back and visit her two more times within just a couple of days!! She is so smart and cute and so excited to learn. We are just really trying to get her family on board because it’s a lot easier to go to church when you’re not the only one! It was such a miracle that we were able to find and teach them so many times in just one week! Also the popo is like the cutest person ever!

At church an investigator and her son came whom I have been persistently calling over the past few months (heheh, I don’t give up), and they had such a good time! We also called to make sure that Eddie was coming to church and he said, “Hey, Sister Crockett, I’m actually in Mainland right now!” Ah, there is never an escape from the Mainland monster.

On Saturday morning we had someone scheduled for 9:00 a.m. that we had actually never met but had just called from an old church record. On the way to the church, we met a super nice lady who is so interested to learn more and come to church! But we got to the church to meet with this potential investigator and we waited and waited and called, and she never answered. That was kind of a bummer because we had gone all the way to the church early in the morning for nothing 😦 But we decided to do some studies in the chapel anyway, and about half an hour later a man popped his head in. He kept asking if we remembered who he was and we were super confused until we finally recognized him as the man that we had met a few weeks before while doing finding that said we would meet again “if it was fate.” Well there he was standing in the chapel and we could hardly even believe it! We gave him a tour and then taught about the Book of Mormon and he was so nice! He is a very religious Catholic and kept telling us over and over that he wasn’t going to change religions, but he was open to hearing about what we believed. It was still just so crazy to actually see him again, but it just goes to show that prayers really do work and that if God needs you somewhere, He will find a way to get you there!

Later that day we also had a couple other lessons that didn’t show up, which meant a little bit more time to do some finding. And we actually met this man who was so nice and we’re in the middle of teaching and talking to him on the street when ANOTHER guy came up to us and said that he wanted to know where our church was and attend Sunday, the next day! So we got his number and now have another time scheduled to meet with him! On Saturday, our day turned out nothing like we thought it would, but it turned out to be exactly the way that we needed it to be all because we relied on the Lord and were at the right place at the right time! If we hadn’t shown up to the church early just to get stood up, then we wouldn’t have met the girl on the street that morning on the way or been conveniently in the chapel when the man showed up again, this time ready to be taught. We also wouldn’t have met the other people on the street and been able to have that precious time to teach them about this gospel! So remember, when things don’t go the way that you think they should, get down on you knees and ask Heavenly Father what it is that you are supposed to be doing and learning!

I wish that I could include all of the miracles and lessons that I learned just in this past week, but I’ll have to wait until later when I have more time! I love you all so much!! Have a great week, and I’ll talk to you again next week!!

Love,
Sister Crockett

18 Dorset Crescent
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Hong Kong

Pictures:
1) heheh me holding our recent convert’s dog like a baby
2) I had some snack mix stuff and it had cute little fish in it!
3) A random building by where we live
4) Random cows!
5-8) We went with some members to a geology park last week!

The end of this past week was fabulous because our investigator, Eddie, finally came to church! He has been in the hospital for the past little bit and hasn’t been able to leave his house much because of the pain in his leg, but he’s doing a lot better now. We had tried to get him to come to church the week before, and he said that it was just too difficult, but then we were like “Look, Eddie, we will hire a taxi to come right to your apartment if it means that you’ll come–we’ll even CARRY you!” And he actually committed to come, but then we had a typhoon and church all across Hong Kong was canceled, and we had to stay inside all day. But that’s beside the point because he finally came to church!!

Our area is really like the only area in the mission where you can knock on doors in some places just because we really do live in like the middle of nowhere, and so people actually live in those little village places called Tsuens. We actually have never really knocked on doors, funny enough, because you have to go at the right time for people to be home and we’re always busy then. But we went out for it last week and it was a fun adventure. We walked through the tiny corridors between the cramped houses and things were illuminated by an eerie red light from all of the god-worship altars that people have in their houses. I also got to have the privilege of having a lot of doors slammed in my face! But there was this one lady who actually (to our surprise) let us into her house and we got to teach her a simple lesson just about who God is. She believes in another god that she has a shrine to and worships, but she was the cutest and nicest lady and said that we could stop by any time–so that was awesome!

We also taught a lesson to a potential who has come to English class a few times and whom we had our recent convert of a few months ago fellowship. This man had lots of questions and unlike most people that we teach was most certainly a Christian and had a lot of doubt about the things that we taught him. I’m also just not really quite sure what happened in that lesson but things really trainwrecked, and at one point things got so lost, and the Spirit was so gone from that lesson. But we pulled things back in and by the end he quietly listened to what we said and told us that he would take up our invitation to find out if the Book of Mormon was true. All that we did to bring things back to where they needed to be was to bear simple and heartfelt testimony. You try to convince people with facts and wisdom and tell them every reason why they should believe you, but in the end they won’t ever, unless you help them to actually FEEL something different. Unless they can actually feel the influence of the Holy Ghost working in them.

It was also Sister Branch’s birthday, which meant that I ate lots of cake, and we also got to eat with a lot of members and spend time with them–I really love this ward and the people here!

We also had a lot of success in our efforts to really talk to everyone, and as a result we have a lot more potentials that we are working on scheduling right now! We also met with a couple of potentials that were kind of… interesting. I’ve got some good stories that I’ll save to tell for another time! The Lord really does bless us when we put in the effort and strive to do our very best without trying to make up excuses.

I read an article in a church magazine about a piece of jade and I thought that it was very fitting because I am serving in China. In a museum in Taiwan there is a piece of jade that’s carved to look like a piece of cabbage–random, right? The story behind it is that jade is only valuable if it is of a solid color, but this particular piece had different streams of color and cracks running through it. A master carver one day decided to carve it and used the “flaws” that it had in order to complement them and make it into something beautiful and actually worth a lot of money. This is, of course, a parallel for all of our own lives as we are none of us perfect and at first glance might think that our value is very low. But God, the master carver, is at work in each and every one of our lives, and He won’t just get rid of our flaws, but He will use them in such a way that they become our strengths just like it says in Ether 12:27. So be grateful for you quirks and weaknesses and know that in the hands of the Master, you can become something great while still retaining the essence of who you are!

Keep working miracles in your life and the lives of those around you! Embrace the cabbage in each and every one of you!

Love,
Sister Crockett

18 Dorset Crescent
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Hong Kong

Pictures:
1, 2) Went biking last week!
3) The fruit trend continues–I bought passion fruit and it is now my favorite
4) what it looks like walking down one of the Tsuens in our area
5) lunch with Sister Leung–she is such a great member!
6) Badminton with the YW, and 2 investigators came

So this past week was of course amazing, mostly because we got to go to the temple again!!! I really can not express how much this sacred and holy place means to me. It has been such a comfort to me so many times on my mission, and I know that if you go into the temple with questions, although they may not be answered right away, you will be comforted.

Eddie went into the hospital and then found out that he might have cancer, but they still need to do some more tests. He came home last week and we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and the physical and spiritual protection that it is to us, and it was such a good lesson! Surprisingly, he doesn’t have a problem with drinking tea and so he should be right on track to get baptized in a few weeks if he comes to church!

This past week also had like four different ward activities that we went to, which was really good because we got to get to know a lot of the members better and had some investigators that came and had a good time! Also there was a Stake Primary talent show, and so I want you to imagine a lot of little kids up on a stage dancing in costumes and singing–it was pretty cute!

Also, the fruit season is in full force and our fridge is pretty much full of just fruit! Every week when we go to the street market we pick out a few new fruits that look interesting and add them to the stash back at home! Someone tell me if there’s a such thing as eating too many fruits, because I’ve probably surpassed that limit. Or better yet, don’t tell me so that I can enjoy living in my ignorance 😉

We were on the train and started talking to this man. He spoke a little bit of English, so we went back and forth in Chinese and English and then he pulled out a notebook and started writing down sentences and reading them out to us. Then he got really serious and said, “But THIS is the hardest word!” and then he scribbled something down and showed us the word–it was n. Yes, like the letter “n.” In his defense it is quite a tricky sound, but it was still really funny! 🙂

We also ran into an interesting situation. The other day we were walking and just smiling and waving at everyone (because missionaries are weird and that’s what we do) and this older lady stopped and talked with us because she recognized the name tag. She told us that she didn’t have a place to stay and was really sad. It just so happened that we were walking back from 7-Eleven, having just bought a quick lunch because we didn’t have much time that day, and were carrying our food in bags in our hands. So we gave her the food and she started crying and thanking us. And we gave her a flier and told her if she needed help she could call us.

And she did. Every day about eight times a day. And she kept asking for us to find a place for us to stay and for us to buy her lunch and stuff like that. And so we finally met with her to try to talk to her and she kept asking us for money for food for the next few days. As missionaries, we’re not allowed to give money to others, so we were put in quite the predicament. She kept insisting and kept pleading with us, so finally some members came over and talked to her and got things sorted out. Let me tell you that that has got to be one of the most stressful and awkward situations that I’ve been in on my mission! The ward has been really good, and I think that things got worked out.

It’s also kept on raining almost every day, and the other day as we were walking home at the end of a long day, we splashed through every puddle, some of them pretty deep, and walked into the apartment soaked but happy! It’s always good weather!

The other day I was doing some calls in some time we had while waiting for an investigator, and saw a number in the phone of a less-active whom I didn’t know and who had never picked up there phone before. So I called it, and surprisingly, the person picked up and was actually happy to talk to me. After finding out that I was a missionary, she said that just moments prior, she and her neighbor were having a hard time so they got together and prayed, and right as they were done I had called them! She invited us over right away because she felt like it was inspiration and wanted to have dinner with us. A couple days later we went to her house which turned out out to be a corridor with lots of rooms in it, each big enough for only a bed, and she lived in one of those rooms. The place was so small that as I crouched on the tiny stool I could reach both walls with ease. She told us right then all that she had been going through and just sobbed as she related it all to us. The Spirit was most certainly guiding us, because the scriptures that we shared fit in perfectly, and as we spoke, her demeanor slowly changed. By the end she thanked us for our visit and told us that she knew that we really were sent by God to help her.

I know without a doubt that God answers all of His children’s prayers. And the realization that I have come to while on my mission is that a lot of the time he uses other people to do so, which is such a special privilege. As a missionary, I am here as a representative of our Savior Jesus Christ and have the blessing of getting to be an answer to people’s prayers every day, and this is such a sweet and sacred opportunity to me. And we all, regardless of whether or not we are a missionary, can find small and simple ways to serve others. And most of the time this can be as simple as just loving them.

I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves each of us. I know it. I have seen it and I have felt it.

Help others to feel of that love.

Love,
Sister Crockett

Pictures:
1) Our district and the temple
2) The essence of our companionship haha!
3)McDonald’s got Minion french fries, so of course we had to try them
4) We also learned how to make balloons at one of the other activities!
5) Some kids at the talent show

I don’t know why it is, but the beginning of the week always seems to be kind of slow, but by the end of it things get so busy that sometimes we don’t even have time to finish all of our studies! It’s kind of like everyone is always free on the same days and so then we run around like maniacs during those times, but it’s also kind of fun to be so busy 🙂

This week we had time to do a little bit of finding in a Tsuen (a big community of houses usually with a park or something in the middle), and we had some pretty good conversations with people. We sat down on a bench next to this one man and ended up talking about the restoration with him and why there are so many different Christian churches. Turns out that he had just barely started going to church a few months prior because his wife is Christian, and he wanted to see what this whole church thing is about. We taught him a little bit, and he was really interested, but when we tried to exchange contact information, he said that we would see each other again “if it was fate.” He agreed that our meeting each other and happening to be in the same place at the same time, sitting on the same bench, was already a coincidence, but he was insistent that if we saw each other again it would be by the arrangement of God, kind of like a test. He left and then we talked to someone else a few minutes later who was also really interested. But the same exact thing happened when we tried to exchange numbers and he told us that if it was fate for him to see us again, then he would. On my mission I have actually heard a lot of people say this to me and I just never understand. I believe that it’s already fate enough that we meet people a first time, because with all of the people that we run into each day, it really is a miracle, and I know that God times things perfectly down to the second so that we can run into the people that we need to! And after people say to me that they’ll leave it up to fate, I write their names down and pray for them that more missionaries will find them 😉

Our investigator, Eddie, called us in the morning on Thursday and said that he needed help being taken to the hospital because his leg was really hurting him. It was kind of crazy that he chose to call us, the missionaries, of all people, because we have only actually seen him like 3 or 4 times because he’s always so busy. But it was also really cool because it gave us an opportunity to serve and showed that he really did trust us! It is such a special opportunity to be a missionary because you develop strong relationships with people really fast just because you care for them so much and really want to see them and they can definitely tell. He’s still in the hospital now and it’s been a few days, so we are hoping that he recovers soon!

A young man in our ward is leaving soon for his mission so he put on a little concert to invite his friends to as a way to introduce them to the missionaries. It was really fun, and there were a lot of people that showed up that we got to talk to! I also decided that I’m not the biggest fan of Cantonese pop music and probably won’t be buying any albums of it when I get home.

So many other things happened–some of them exciting and some of them just straight up awkward. We got lost a few times wandering through some villages trying to find less-actives. We also ate a lot of McDonald’s ice cream because they came out with a new cheesecake flavor and hot weather is a perfect excuse to eat it!

We are still working hard on getting our investigators to progress and on finding some new ones, but our hard work is slowly paying off! We have some good things planned for this week so I’ll have some more things to update you on next week!

Everyone here always has umbrellas. They’re obviously quite handy for rain in the typhoon and summer seasons, but even when it’s not raining people still have them out. If it’s not raining then they still have them out to protect themselves from the sun because the people here think that it’s prettier to have pale skin than tan skin. It’s kind of funny because it’s the opposite of Western thinking, and sometimes when people see us without an umbrella or anything they look a little bit alarmed. It reminds me of a Mormon Message by President Uchtdorf about putting down your umbrella that is preventing you from taking in the blessings that God is trying to “rain” upon you. In all types of weather and situations, we should put our umbrella down and have a heart full of gratitude so that we can recognize the blessings that God has already given us and prepare ourselves to receive the ones that He has in store for us!

I love being a missionary!! Every day is so amazing and I still can’t believe that the Lord trusts me enough to be here helping these amazing people! The truth of it is that most of the time I feel like I am the one who is being taught, not the other way around! The other trick of it is humbling yourself enough to accept those opportunities to be taught!

Love you all!! Have a great week!! Put your umbrella down so that you can take in the rain–or the sunshine!

Love,
Sister Crockett

18 Dorset Crescent
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Hong Kong

Pictures
1) Our Family picture! Me with my two daughters Sister Branch and Sister Percival, and then my second grand-daughter Sister Lee!
2) Ocean view from the Pier
3) We found a huge cockroach in the kitchen–so we trapped it in a container and then got too scared to kill it.
4) Teaching English class

This week we had some rather unfortunate things happen. Lately we have had all of these new investigators and potentials and these amazing things happening, but for some reason or another almost every single one of those people dropped us or avoided us. It was kind of hard, especially because some of those people seemed to be doing so well and even had baptismal dates, and so it’s kind of hard to understand why things changed so fast.

But . . .

I have never been one to let those things get in the way or to give up! This week Sister Branch and I kept going and working hard, even if we weren’t able to see immediate success. And we were actually able to meet with some new potentials and some old investigators that we haven’t seen for a while.

In church I also got to interpret for some members from the Philippines who didn’t know English. It’s always so fun getting to interpret for people, because not only do you have to listen more, but you actually think more about what people are saying. It was such a great church meeting!

We met with Mary again, the person who said that she didn’t want to keep learning about the gospel, and just went to lunch with her and talked. And then she invited us over to her house to give me a haircut. I said sure, because we all know that when people are cutting your hair it’s the perfect time to be able to talk with them, because you are both trapped! And it did turn out to be super good and we were able to teach her some things about the plan of salvation just based off of some of the things that she said, because, after all, there will always be something in what someone says that you can relate back to a gospel truth! And also she ended up cutting off a lot of my hair, but no sacrifice is too great for investigators, right?!

Also had some meetings and whatnot that are a lot more exciting for me than the rest of you, but let’s just say that I got some really direct and specific revelation and can testify that Heavenly Father really does answer our questions through other people most of the time. The trick is just for us to be humble and listening.

We met with the Lo Family again and had dinner and were also able to find out a lot of their concerns that are keeping them from progressing. Brother Lo was baptized a long time ago, but has gone back to ancestral worship and forgot all of the things that he felt at the time of his conversion all those years ago. He doesn’t want his son to go to church because he wants him to be able to inherit the ancestral alter when he gets older and this is really hard on Sister Lo because she wants so badly to learn more about Jesus Christ and His church, but it’s hard when she doesn’t really have family support. We were really able to help her a little just with a simple testimony and now have a clearer idea of how to help the both of them! We weren’t even planning on visiting them this week, we just stopped by, but I’m grateful that we did!

Another potential that we met with wanted to go out with us to get food (this really was the theme of this week), and at first she really didn’t want to hear about any church things; she just wanted to talk. And so we did. By the end of our encounter, she told us just how happy she was to be with us and said that next time we could talk more about what we were here doing as missionaries! All people are different when it comes to when and how they accept the gospel, but EVERYONE needs to feel loved and valued before they will listen to what we have to say. So if that means eating a bowl of noodles with them first, then that’s what we’ll do!

I started the Book of Mormon all over again this week and in the chapters where they were asked to retrieve the plates, I was struck once again by their dedication. Often times when we try something and fail, we assume that it just wasn’t meant to be and then move on. Or maybe we try a second time and fail once again and then feel all the more confident that it just must not be right. But it wasn’t until the third time that Nephi and his brothers were successful in their attempts to retrieve what had been commanded of them. I definitely feel this in my daily life. I feel prompted to talk to someone and they shoot me down. That’s okay, that’s fine, I’ll just move on. But most of the time I don’t actually stop after the first time and I know that I drive Sister Branch a little crazy, because I don’t ever give up when I’m trying to talk to or contact people. But so many times it just takes a little bit of persistence and then things actually start to happen! So just remember during this week that if you are told to do something and feel like you should but you fail, it’s not the end! Maybe it will take 2 or 3 or 50 times to actually be successful, but trust that if it is of God, then He will provide a way.

Enough of my rambling. Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Crockett

18 Dorset Crescent
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Hong Kong

Pictures:

1 & 2) Noodles with Sis Branch!
3) With Mary after the haircut
4) Good ol’ Hung Shui Kiu!
5) It was a YW’s birthday on Sunday so we got to celebrate

You know those weeks that never seem to end? Well this past week was one of those just because there were so many things that happened and just so many blessings! Honestly, I didn’t want the week to end!

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes; I had a great day! One of the members actually called on my birthday and asked me to pick up a cake because there was a little boy he wanted to introduce to us whose birthday it was as well. None of them knew that it was my birthday, and I didn’t want to tell them because I was so much happier being able to sing to someone else than I would have been with the attention focused on me! And this little boy lived in a very hard situation and not even his own mom acknowledged that it was his birthday, so it was so special to be able to meet him and be there with him!

So to sum things up right now, our apartment is full of cockroaches, and the other day we found a patch of mushrooms growing out of the side of our wall. Interesting. Like I said before, it gets pretty hot and humid here!

In English class we had so many new people come to our kids class, and at the end I was trying to get a volunteer to say the closing prayer, but no one wanted to. So I chose a random kid to come up to the front to help me and I knelt down on the ground next to him to teach him how to pray. Before I knew it a whole group of kids had come up and circled around me and there was a collective chime of little children’s voices as they all repeated a prayer after me. It was such a cute and sweet experience and they were all so happy and excited after learning how to pray!

Last week we were doing a district find and the Elders tried to give a man an English class flier, but he laughed at them and told them that he was already fluent. Well I decided to walk up to him and talk with him while we waited at the cross light and then we kept talking and actually were able to walk to the church with him and give him a church tour right then and there! We met with him again and taught the restoration and invited him to be baptized and he accepted! It was such a humbling experience for me to realize that you really can’t ever judge someone based on appearances, because there are people all around ready to hear our message. Also Eddie is from Canada and is like the funniest man ever–I love him so much!

We have really been struggling to get investigators to church, but we were so blessed and yesterday were able to have a family show up! We had met the daughter on the street about a month prior and were finally able to schedule her for this week, and her mom and brother also ended up coming to the lesson! This girl has such a strong testimony already; it was been such a pleasure being able to meet with her!

For the past few weeks we have been working to put on a Caribbean activity and finally had it this past Saturday! We made so much curry that even though we had a lot of people show up, everyone still got to take some home! It was pretty successful and our old investigator, Jacky Chan, came to it as well!

I don’t know if you remember him, but we actually haven’t been able to see Jacky for about 3 months because he stopped letting us schedule him, and we didn’t know what happened. But randomly he called and asked to schedule us, and so we met with him and he shared all about what had been happening with him lately. And it was a lot. We had no idea that he had been going through so much, and he just completely opened up to us. I was so close to tears as I listened to him talk, and felt the Spirit directing my every word as I tried to help him. We are hopefully going to be able to see him again this week, so keep him in your prayers.

Since meeting with Jacky I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. In Chinese the word to repent is “fui goi,” whose two characters essentially mean “regret” and “change.” I love that meaning because it really emphasizes the fact that repentance isn’t just feeling bad about something and then doing your best to get rid of it, but is actually a process of change and improvement. That is why we must repent daily, because with it, it truly is possible to become better!

Love you all! Keep working miracles in the lives of others and your own life will be blessed in turn!

Pictures:
1) A picture of my area! The tall buildings in the background are actually Mainland China, but all of the hills and random houses are mine!
2) Went hiking with an investigator last week
3) A sister from another ward at the volunteer place where we do service. Shout out to Sister Bateman, who used to live with her!
4) A member surprised me at the church with a cake for my birthday!